accessing server-side objects from client

Hi wizards,

I'm writting this Ajax Extender Control to switch objects within a panel. It was supposed to work like this: you choose a data-type in a dropdown list (which is the extended object, by the way -- this.get_element()), and the content of a Panel (<div>) changes accordingly; i.e., if you choose "DateTime" in the dropdown the panel will show a Calendar, etc.

In order to perform that I have to fetch this object from server. So, my question is: how can I fetch a server-side object from client-side? How can I change its properties?

For example: an object with property Visible=false is not rendered and therefore does not appear on client; but what if I still want to set it to Visible=true? Can I grab the rendered portion of this client-code (HTML) and insert in the current page?

I'm not sure whether I made myself any clear; I'm confused, so the question may be obscure too. Let me know if you need more information.

thanks a lot in advance,

Do you know vb or C#? You will need to submit the page and do some code-behind.

rpack79:

Do you know vb or C#? You will need to submit the page and do some code-behind.

Well, yes, I think I know C# -- I'm not sure whether I know enough, though.

Sorry, I don't understand these terms; what is code-behind? What do you mean by "submit the page" -- which page?

That sounds kinda vague to me... :-|

thanks a lot for your post,

What is this web page for? Post the code you already have if any.

You may be better offtriggering a partial postback via __doPostBack(), to change the Visible property on your controls at the server.

Another option would be to style the controls with CSS to hide them. Using "display: none;" instead of the Visible property. Then, the server controls still render their HTML, but are hidden on the client. Take a look atmy post about inline label editing for an example of how to do that.

Your blog is awesome!!! I'll try the __doPostBack approach. Thanks a lot for your prompt reply and congratulations for the great work! :-)

my best regards,